HTC One (M8) officially announced: here’s what you need to know

HTC has now officially unveiled the HTC One (M8) at a dual event in London and New York City, bringing us revamped specs and plenty of new features, wrapped in a visually pleasing package that borrows heavily from the design language of its predecessor.

Although the HTC One (M8) strongly resembles the original HTC One, it’s overall look is much more refined with a back that is slightly more curved with smooth rounded corners. The HTC One (M8) also ditches the capacitive keys found on its older brother in favor of software keys.

Turning to the device’s specs, the HTC One (M8) features a larger 5-inch Super LCD3 display with a 1080p resolution. Under the hood you’ll find a 2.3Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 801 CPU with 2GB of RAM. There’s also a 2,600 mAh battery, 16/32GB storage and a new ‘Duo Camera’.

So what exactly is the purpose of the Duo Camera? Basically the new HTC One adds a secondary rear camera that brings a depth sensor in addition to the main HTC UltraPixel cam. HTC says this will enable you to get more detailed depth information that can enable a range of creative effects that “allow you to do more with your images than ever before”.

Ultrapixels and Duo likely won’t see a return on the rear of the Hima (M9).

That’s just the icing on the cake when it comes to improvements found on the all-new HTC One (M8). HTC also boasts a new Motion Launch gesture controlled shortcuts mode, improved BoomSound that delivers 25% louder sound than the M7, and an extreme power savings mode that allows the M8 to last 40% longer than its predecessor.

These new software and hardware improvements are covered in greater detail in the rest of our HTC One (M8) coverage, which we’ll be bringing you more in short order.

Availability

Although the Sony Xperia Z2 and Samsung Galaxy S5 were announced a month ahead of the HTC One (M8), HTC’s latest flagship has the advantage of landing in the United States and other major markets ahead of the competition. According to HTC, the handset will roll out to over 230 operators across the globe beginning today, March 25th.

In the UK, Carphone Warehouse has already stepped forward to announce they will carry the handset starting today. In the United States, you’ll be able to get your hands on the all-new HTC One through Verizon Stores starting today, and Big Red should be accepting online orders “soon”. As for other U.S. carriers and retailers? The handset should arrive sometime in the next few weeks.

For those in other regions, you’ll want to check with your individual carriers or favorite local retailer for more specifics regarding the HTC One M8’s arrival.